The war that is read through its valve

The US–Israel–Iran conflict continues, with Hormuz as its physical fulcrum and the global oil price as its readout. China has quietly cushioned the shock — cutting crude imports from ~11.7m barrels/day in February to under 9m by late May — keeping prices below $100. Markets metabolise the anxiety not by selling but by *hiding*: money-market funds swelled past a record $8 trillion in parked cash, and Bitcoin logged its worst week since the FTX collapse of 2022.

Different organs, one signal: the financial body's response to war is not panic but withdrawal into the most liquid, least committal position available. Cash is the macro equivalent of doomscrolling — present, alert, and refusing to act.